Far from it. “I’m selling reading,” says Daunt, who shares my view that, from many perspectives, this is a golden age for the consumer. “We have to insinuate ourselves into the process, and we have to be seamless.” On closer examination, “seamless” turns out to mean persuading Waterstones customers to choose an e-reader (and ebooks) through a Waterstones-sponsored device. Daunt won’t say when this will happen – “it’s the bit we have to get right” – but it’s imminent. “We’ll be different from Amazon,” he says, with characteristic ebullience, “and we’ll be better.”